More Than A Game: The Story of Cricket's Early Years. John Major
MORE THAN A GAME
The Story of Cricket’s Early Years
JOHN MAJOR
To Norma, Elizabeth, James and Luke
Contents
5 Cricket Spreads: Early Roots
8 The Rise and Fall of Single-Wicket
9 The Missionary and the Mercenaries
10 Wider Still and Wider: Cricket Goes Abroad
12 The Boom in Leisure: Competition for Cricket
13 The Cricketers and the Counties
14 The Chroniclers and the Scribes
16 The Grand Old Man and the Backroom Boy
APPENDIX 2: Rules of the White Conduit Club
APPENDIX 3: ‘Laws for Single Wicket’ (1831)
APPENDIX 4: Important Single-Wicket Matches 1800–1848
APPENDIX 5: W.J. Prowse, ‘In Memoriam, Alfred Mynn 1807–1861’
Charles Lennox, second Duke of Richmond, a keen gambler with a lifelong love of cricket. Mezzotint by John Faber Jr, after John Vanderbank. (Courtesy National Portrait Gallery, London)
Sir William Gage, whose estate Firle in East Sussex was one of the cradles of eighteenth-century cricket. (Courtesy of the Firle Estate Trustees)
Cricket being played in 1743 at the Artillery Ground in Finsbury, London. (The Roger Mann Collection)
Lionel Sackville, first Duke of Dorset, one of the great early patrons of the game. Portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1717. (Private Collection, © NTPL/John Hammond)
Charles Sackville, second Duke of Dorset. Portrait by Rosalba Carriera. (Private Collection, © NTPL/John Hammond)
Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, an enthusiastic early patron of cricket. Portrait miniature by Gaetano Manini, 1755. (© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford/The Bridgeman Art Library)
The Duke of Cumberland, a better judge of a soldier than a cricketer. Portrait by David Morier. (© Private Collection/Philip Mould Ltd/The Bridgeman Art Library)
A match at Moulsey Hurst, on the banks of the river Mole in Surrey. (The Roger Mann Collection)
‘Lumpy’ Stevens, the most deadly underarm bowler of his day. (The Roger Mann Collection)
Sir Horace Mann, the most amiable of cricket’s early benefactors. (The Roger Mann Collection)
John Frederick Sackville, third Duke of Dorset, the third in a line of great cricketing patrons. Portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1769. (Private Collection, © NTPL/John Hammond)
The Countess of Derby plays cricket with other ladies at The Oaks, in Surrey, in 1779. (The Roger Mann Collection)
John Nyren, whose memories of Hambledon have given us a vivid picture of early cricket. (The Roger Mann Collection)
An eighteenth-century cricket match, possibly at Hambledon. (The Roger Mann Collection)
A page from a sketchbook by George Shepheard, showing some of the Hambledon cricketers. (The Roger Mann Collection)
The Bat and Ball Inn on Broadhalfpenny Down, Hambledon. (The Roger Mann Collection)
‘Silver Billy’ Beldam joined the Hambledon club in 1785, and lifted the art of batting to a new level of style and elegance. (The Roger Mann Collection)
Lord Winchilsea, a key founder of the MCC who encouraged Thomas Lord to acquire its first ground. (The Roger Mann Collection)
Cricket Played by the Gentlemen’s Club, White Conduit House, Islington in 1784. (The Roger Mann Collection)
An engraving, after Thomas Rowlandson, depicting a match between the ladies of Hampshire and Surrey at Newington in 1811. (The Roger Mann Collection)
The canny Yorkshireman Thomas Lord, who left the world’s most famous cricket ground as his memorial. (The Roger Mann Collection)
William Ward, a central figure in securing Lord’s place as the headquarters of cricket. (The Roger